Vale former ISD Board Chair, Valerie Stetson

The ISD Board of Trustees was very sad to learn that former ISD Board Chair, Valerie Stetson, died in a car crash whilst on a work trip in Cameroun last week.

Valerie served on the Board of ISD, including as Board Chair, from January 2010 until her family left Dakar in 2012. She led many significant reforms for the school, such as the introduction of the IB and the construction of the secondary school building.

Valerie always had a close connection to Senegal – in 1979 she started her career in development work as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Sine Saloum region, where she learned to speak Wolof fluently and met her husband Jean Marie Adrien.

Valerie’s career was one of service to improving the well-being of women, men and children in Africa, working for a number of development agencies in Senegal, Kenya, Ghana, Cameroun, Burkina Faso, Somalia and Niger.

I arrived in Dakar after Valerie had left and did not have the privilege to meet her. However, in the comments I have heard from the ISD community over the past days, I have learned that she was a strong advocate for her own and others’ education, hard-working, calm, strong and exceptionally kind.

There are those in our school community who will remember Val well, along with her family: husband Jean Marie, son Alexandre and daughters Sabine and Cecile. Our thoughts are with her family at this sad time. The family has set up an email address for condolences, should you wish to write: familleadrianstetson@gmail.com.

As trustees of the school, the Board is constantly thinking about what impact our decisions will have in the future. Valerie’s legacy through her service on the Board has been immensely positive and our current Board strives to emulate her commitment and vision for the school.